plant shopping in Atlanta

Mom and I went down to Atlanta today mainly to visit Wilkerson Mill Gardens, which is a specialty mainly hydrangea nursery. After extensive reading, I had decided on some hydrangeas I wanted to add to my yard and none of the cultivators I wanted were available locally. I got Ami Pasquier (a red that I am hoping will turn purple on my acid soil), Gentian Dome (dark blue), Generale Vicomtesse de Vibraye (1909 introduction, light blue and reblooms) and Marechal Foch (THE dark blue before Gentian Dome came along, introduced around 1909). We really enjoyed visiting Wilkerson Mill and the owners were super nice and very helpful. They also suggested Sibilla if I wanted to try for purple, so maybe next year...



I had bought a large pot last month at Lowes with the intention of getting a Masja hydrangea from Park Seed to grow in it. Well, the Masjas at Park will not be available until next month and they will be tiny. We also went to a Pike Nursery when we were in Atlanta and they had 1 gallon 'Buttons n Bows', the really cute little hydrangea with white edges on the flowers for a good price, so I just had to get it. They also had 'Glowing Embers' for the same good price and I debated getting it, but wasn't going to. Then I found a big plastic pot for only $6 and figured I could plant 'Buttons n Bows' in the plastic pot as it will be easy to move to protect it and that left the original pot free for 'Glowing Embers' so into the cart it went as well. I also picked up 2 1 gallon Butterfly Bushes for $3 each, one is variegated. I think I will plant one sort of behind my one yew at the edge of my perennial bed. I can always prune it to keep it in line. Pike also had the Clemson gnome I have been searching for ever since seeing a Carolina gnome at Country Boys.

All in all it was a very productive, if a tad expensive, trip to Atlanta and we really had a good time. I have a lot of planting to do in the coming weeks. The hydrangeas will be the first things in, as I really want them to try to get as much root growth in as possible before they go dormant.